Monday, October 14, 2013

Freddie Mercury and the holograms will jam with fans at new museum

It could be the closest music fans get to stepping into a time machine to meet their idols.A new London museum plans to offer visitors the chance to jam on stage with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock, be the fifth Beatle or duet with Freddie Mercury at Live Aid.Fans will play along on instruments or sing as a high definition video image of the artist is beamed beside them.The same technology enabled Tupac Shakur, who was killed in 1996, to be digitally reincarnated to share the stage with fellow rappers Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre and Eminem at last year’s Coachella festival in California. It also allowed Pixie Lott to play a gig in hologram form.Curators of the Music Hall of Fame say visitors to Camden’s Stables Market will be able to enjoy a “4D” experience.The man behind the project, music entrepreneur Lee Bennett, said: “You could be transported back to a specific moment of music or play with artists who are no longer alive, even playing back-to-back with a hologram.” He added: “I was at Coachella watching Tupac and it blew people’s minds.”Ian O’Connell, who has designed the hologram technology, said stars will be brought to life using a 21st-century take on an “old Victorian parlour trick” called Pepper’s Ghost. The illusion will be created by beaming high definition video images into a “3D space” created with glass panes and mirrors and fibre optic cabling.Mayor of Camden Jonathan Simpson said: “You can go and perform with your favourite bands — you can be up there with Nirvana, you can be up there with Morrissey on stage.”Visitors can also take away a DVD of themselves performing.The Music Hall of Fame is planned to open within the next 18 months. Mr Bennett also created Camden’s Music Walk of Fame, which will run from Mornington Crescent to Chalk Farm honouring Britain’s rock ‘n’ roll legends.